Curious to see what you think about it
You guys are giving me so much hope lol
Yeah, I’ll have to look that up, since I bought this off someone else without really worrying too much about the specs… I do know that If I’m buying a headphone DAC/amp that I’ll most likely spend quite a big chunk of change on it, since I’m of the opinion that the amp and DAC should probably be the most solid part of your setup.
After searching for a while the only thing that really jumped out at me was the Schiit Jotunheim and the Questyle CMA400I. So far the Jotunheim looks to have everything I could possibly want or need at the pricepoint. Balanced output, tons of power and the possibility to put in a DAC. And the Questyle looks to be the same thing, but an all-round upgrade.
They were really great. If I didn’t hate hifiman cables I’d have maybe considered it, but it looks exactly like the crappy cables that came with my 6SE that I replaced immediately. I’ve been dropping a decent amount of money on iems lately, and the RE2000 really stood out to me on the initial pair I had before the left driver died. The replacement pair sounded like someone stepping on an accordion in the right driver.
Unless the one I bought on ebay is broken, I know I like it but I haven’t had a chance to try the headphone jack. After I got my Marantz, it inspired a friend of mine to look into vintage receivers from the same era, and Sansui are usually pretty affordable compared to the Marantz model it most directly compares to. He heard my 2325 and was able to find a 9090 from an estate sale for $400. Apparently Sansui was the top brand US military could buy at a discounted price, so you see a lot of really high quality gear from right around the end of the Vietnam War
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I would suggest avoiding the jot imo, it’s really not that great for the price imo. I would actually recommend the Asgard 3 in place as imo it far outclasses it in performance
The cma400i is super solid, can recommend
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I’ll keep the Asgard in mind. Something I don’t know much about are DACs though. Does it make a big difference if I get a seperated DAC unit, as compared to a DAC/amp combo?
So, as long as you get a good dac it doesn’t matter too much if it’s integrated or not imo. The integrated dac in the Asgard or jot is alright but imo I think you could get better performance from a standalone dac. On the other hand, I think the questyle has a great internal dac and I wouldn’t worry too much about missing out dac wise. It really just depends on the product
Having sperate dacs and amps can be helpful in the future for flexibility and upgradeability, but all in ones do save space and are more convenient at times
Edit: another great all in one is the jds labs element II but I don’t think you would be able to get this one over there
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Duly noted!
And about the Element 2, I can get it, but I’d have to import it from outside or get it used from someone else. Not that used products are bad, but I personally think electronics shouldn’t be bought used if you can help it. But that doesn’t sound too convincing who brainlessly bought a speaker amp from someone else haha
I really only buy used for high end gear, I mean you can get great deals on essentially new gear. There really isn’t a downside to it for me but it depends on the person. (I just know that I might not have some of my collection if I didn’t buy used)
For stuff that retails under 250 though I would be careful because people tend to not treat it that nice
Also if you were interested in the element ii, don’t spend too much to get it lol
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That’s definitely true. Once got a second hand electronic drum set, because those can also be really expensive at times and got a drum set with most of the electronics ruined…
Ah that’s no good, yeah there are some things to look out for of course lol. Just do what you are most comfortable with and go that route
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I did indeed look at the Element 2 as well, a few days back. And I thought it wasn’t too expensive after counting up all of the costs. Then again, if there was something better at the price range after counting up the costs then I’d probably still buy that simply because it does look quite nice and I’m an idiot.
I’d like to add that I’m not the Beats-Razer kind though. Where it’s just the looks that matter…
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Lol, there’s just a ton of options out there to go through. My top pics for an all in one that would be reasonable to pair with a sundara would be an element ii, cma 400i, or Asgard 3 with a multibit module. I will also throw in the iFi iDSD micro Black label for fun because I think it pairs very well, and it’s also portable too so that’s cool
For stand alone components there are lots of choices lol so it would depend, lots of things to go through. You would have to set a budget here
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Well, I the original budget I set for when I would have to replace the speaker amp was at least 600 euros, which I think was the price of the Jotunheim with the Multibit DAC. That seems kind of low for separate units, though…
Ah so it should drive speakers as well?
You could grab an asgard 3 and a denon pma800ne and be pretty well off imo. What speakers are you using again?
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Nah, if I’m getting an amp after this one I’ll buy specialized units. Speakers amps for speakers and headphone amps for headphones.
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Makes sense. Then perhaps the setup I mentioned above might be up your alley or something. You could get a headphone amp/preamp and a power amp, or get an integrated amp and an external headphone amp
The element, cma, and Asgard 3 all have pre outs if I remember correctly so you could get a cheaper power amp and drive speakers that way (like a parasound zamp v3 or something)
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I’ll remember that when buying better speakers. Bought my current amp because I needed something to power the ‘cheap trash’ I bought because I really needed something to make sound when having people over. The only thing that really stood out to me when buying the amp was the fact it was a Philips, which I’ve had good experiences with in the past.
Yeah most amps like the Phillips (although I don’t know the model so I can’t say much) are solid enough and get the job done, but not something really high end
Of course I would suggest to get your speakers in order before you drop a fair amount on the speaker amp lol